State v. Morgan, 372 N.C. 609 (Aug. 16, 2019)

On appeal from a divided panel of the Court of Appeals, ___ N.C. App. ___, 814 S.E.2d 843 (2018), the Supreme Court considered the statutory requirements for revoking probation after it has expired. In this case the defendant’s probation officer filed a violation report on May 12, 2016 alleging, among other things, that the defendant committed a new criminal offense. His probation expired on August 28, 2016, and then came on for a violation hearing in early September. The trial court revoked the defendant’s probation based on the defendant’s admission that he absconded and committed a new criminal offense. On appeal, the defendant argued that the trial court erred by revoking his probation after expiration without making a specific finding that it was doing so for good cause shown and stated as required by G.S. 15A-1344(f)(3). The Court of Appeals held, over a dissent, that under State v. Regan, 253 N.C. App. 351 (2017), no specific findings were required. The Supreme Court reversed, concluding that the plain language of the statute does require a finding of good cause—just as former G.S. 15A-1344(f)(2) required a finding that the State had made a “reasonable effort” to notify a probationer and conduct a violation hearing earlier to give a court jurisdiction to act on a case after probation expired. See State v. Bryant, 361 N.C. 100 (2006). The court remanded the case to the trial court to make a determination of whether good cause existed to revoke the defendant’s probation after it had already expired and, if so, to make an appropriate finding of fact.